Cyclone Setback - But Silver Linings!

We signed the land back over to Metricon to start the build after the retaining walls were finished as anticipated on 17 February 2015.

To their credit, Metricon must have been out there straight away - put up a bin area and some construction bunting around the front of the house. They even managed to peg out where the house will be constructed!  Even just the bottom level seems massive, so I'm very excited for the finished product.

And then, typical Queensland, had to go and have a cyclone. There was torrential rain in Brisbane between 19 and 21 February 2015 and even since then it has been overcast and drizzly.

We called our site manager first thing this morning (23 February 2015) to discuss the status of the build. We were informed (understandably) that all trades were cancelled and there was no new start date for everyone to be re-booked and onsite laying the pipes or the slab. There is simply nothing that can be done until 1. the block is dry enough and 2. there is no indication of significant rain in the coming days (otherwise the plumbing gets clogged, the slab will not dry etc).  This is a really difficult balancing act around the time of a cyclone.

Ordinarily, this would be a real pain for a construction that was originally slated to commence in December 2014, to now being more like March 2015. Granted we have made significant progress in the cut, fill and retaining throughout that time.

But, after being on site, and having the pegging confirmed as our house positioning, we were immediately concerned that the changes to the retaining wall and the house pegging did not seem to give us the side access we thought we would have to the backyard. We needed a big enough corridor for machinery to get in to the backyard to dig a hole for the pool after handover (as was our original plan).

Therefore, we have had the brilliant idea to get our pool guys in and dig the hole during the cyclone delay while we wait for Metricon to be in a position to come back on site.  I do believe this will save us significant costs in the long run - if there was not sufficient side access, the pool construction would likely have become too expensive to justify.  Again, to their credit, Metricon is completely onboard with our plans to further delay the start of this construction to put a hole in the backyard for a pool.

So the land is being signed back over to us and we can hand it back to Metricon when the rain has passed and the pool hole is in the backyard with some nice temporary fencing.  Metricon will then re-book the trades and start the build!

Retaining Walls Are Done!

The back and front retaining walls are now in place.  I think they look fantastic!  Metricon will be taking possession of the land back next week to get started on laying the slab... More to come..

Interior Colour Selections

The interior colour selections were much easier for us than the exterior...

We started by selecting the Caeserstone benchtop and working from there.  I think this is a good place to start, because it is one of the more expensive choices you will make and it is difficult (impossible) to change later.   You have a great range of selections in paint, cabinetry and tiles to work around the benchtop, but it is harder to find a benchtop that matches all the selections if you work in reverse.  We took a range of sample tiles from the showroom and sat them on our benchtop at home, walking past periodically to get an idea for what we liked, and was eye-catching.

We selected the Caesarstone Shitake.  These are 40mm benchtops throughout the kitchen and butlers pantry, 20mm in the bathrooms, all with a square finish. We liked this one because it was quite neutral while having the flecks of white and dark brown/black, giving us a lot of options in matching paint, tiles and cabinetry etc. The mottled look is also great for hiding mess, I find that plain benchtops (esp darker ones) show every little spot.

The underbench cabinetry is in a basic Laminex White 200, which I've attempted to post here, but I'm sure it looks strange to post a white swatch on a white page...

The overbench kitchen cabinetry, fit-out in the butler's pantry, laundry and bathrooms will be in the Laminex Pesto Linea

The ultimate look we are going for in the kitchen is roughly similar to these.  Our floor will be tiled and the splashback is glass.

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The interior paint throughout is in Dulux China White

It has quite a yellow undertone, especially against a stark white background, however, we think it is quite warm and matches well with the Shitake benchtop and the yellow undertone in the pesto linea cabinetry as well.  When in use the colour is much more subdued. This is an example here.